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Land Vehicles/Lunar Units
Prior to the BETA landing at Kashgar in 1974, humanity had already engaged them on the surface of the Moon. From 1967 to 1973, in what would later be known as the First Lunar War, humanity, outnumbered and on an unfamiliar battlefield, had to hastily refit many of their utility vehicles used on the lunar surface with weapons, often with less-than-stellar results. Lunar Vehicle-2 : The LV-2 is a wheeled vehicle designed to operate under lowered gravity conditions; specifically, on the surface of Luna. Originally a transport vehicle with the ability to tow a cargo module, the First Lunar War saw the LV-2 being refitted with two rocket launchers behind the driver and passenger cabins for combat support roles; its cargo module was used to carry ammunition.Integral Works, pg. 17, 月面４輪輸送車 (LV-2). The use of rocket launchers on the vehicle has contributed greatly to a lack of recoil when using its weapons; as a rocket is accelerated by its own propellant, there is no gun system needed to fire it, and no resulting recoil from it. This also contributed to soldiers comparing it to the original Soviet-made Katyusha rocket launcher by nicknaming the LV-2 "Stalin's Moon Organ" and the "Lunar Katyusha". : Its operational payload used smaller rockets than the initial design called for, as issues were raised about the supply line and the vehicle's capability to hold the frontlines if it had used larger rockets. Despite that, the vehicle proved less effective than expected in combat; the vehicles produced could not match the sheer number of the BETA, as well as the debris thrown up during combat and other issues served to undermine its effectiveness in battle. The LV-2 was eventually used as a direct-fire weapon against large targets. : The lack of success with the LV-2 saw the vehicle refitted again at a later point in time as a carrier and resupply vehicle for Feedback Protector-equipped troops, in addition to its original role as a multipurpose transport. Its rocket launchers found second use as turret-mounted weapons used by lunar bases for defence purposes until humanity retreated from the moon. Lunar Vehicle-4 : Named the LV-4 for short, the vehicle was originally a wheeled materials and personnel transport re-purposed as a self-propelled gun for surface warfare, as was normal for most lunar vehicles during the 1967 BETA invasion of Luna.Integral Works, pg. 16, 月面8輪自走砲 (LV-4). : The LV-4's main armament was a low-recoil cannon system. However, the lack of an atmosphere on the moon meant that high-explosive shells could not be used to full effect, and the lowered gravity compared to Earth's meant that despite the lowered recoil, the LV-4 was still often pushed out of position when firing its cannon, a fault that compromised its accuracy. A temporary measure was found by increasing the cannon's angle of fire to brace the LV-4 against the ground while firing, but this severely limited the LV-4's total combat range, and never completely solved the problems caused by recoil issues. : As the Lunar War escalated, LV-4 cannon systems were eventually removed from their vehicles and installed in lunar bases as cannon turrets, remedying the recoil issues. Lunar Carrier Module : Nicknamed the Carpet and/or Magic Carpet for its design and method of movement, the LCM-2 was a non-wheeled hovercraft that moved by means of its four rocket thrusters; these thrusters allowed the LCM to hover and move over the lunar surface without touching it.Integral Works, pg. 16, 月面輸送船 (LCM-2). It was originally an unarmed cargo transport, but the BETA invasion of Luna in 1967 in saw it refitted with a 20mm autocannon as a stopgap measure. Due to the emergency nature of the refit, the recoil from the autocannon often shifted the vehicle off-course during operation. : An upgraded version was later produced on Luna; the LCM-2A1 was deployed with an automated computer link between the autocannon and thruster systems, allowing the thrusters to fire to counteract the recoil of the autocannon. However, because of the fuel issues presented by this solution, firing the autocannon whilst flying was restricted to emergency situations only. Feedback Protector : An early-model powered exoskeleton, the Feedback Protector, named the Hardiman, was originally developed from the Manned Maneuvering Unit used for construction work in outer space.Integral Works, pg. 16, ハーディマン Designed to be equipped over the standard space suit, the FP was used to allow soldiers to handle weapons that would otherwise be too heavy for them, as well as engage in 3-dimensional warfare, its key advantage over other lunar vehicles. : The Feedback Protector was further developed in the years that followed, and served as the basis for the exoskeleton systems found in TSF cockpit blocks, as well as in TSF development itself. Manned Maneuvering Unit : Often shortened to MMU, it is a large bipedal machine, often used for heavy construction work involving orbital/surface ships and assets in sub-1G gravity conditions. Its basic frame and design would be used for the development of the the Hardiman Feedback Protector during the 1967 Lunar War. NCAF-X1 : A further development of the LMMU, the NCAF-X1 was originally a proof-of-concept machine developed by McDaell.Integral Works, pg. 17, NCAF-X1 During the 1967 Lunar War, several units were deployed to the lunar frontlines to gather combat data, although its exact performance was unknown, and remains classified to this day. Known to the public are the facts that it was at least armed with a 17mm chaingun fixed to its arm, early-design supplemental armor, as well as thruster units for boosted jumps when moving across the lunar surface. : The NCAF-X1's lineage would be continued in the F-4 Phantom line, when the machine underwent operational trials to be re-purposed as a terrestrial-use combat machine against the BETA. Trivia *The nicknames for the LV-2 are a nod to the nicknames of the real-life Katyusha series of rocket launchers. *The Feedback Protector is named for the exact same (unsuccessful) experimental system in real-life, developed by US company General Electric in 1965. References Category:Hardware and Technology